blondexhurricane:

“I don’t want you to hate me.” The admission
was quiet as Delia released the hold she had
on Teddy’s hand. As hard as it was to accept
the fact that her help simply wasn’t wanted, a
nagging voice in the back of her head kept on
repeating that she had to follow her mother’s
request. Maybe with time she would come to
see the error of her ways, but until then, there
was nothing more Delia could do. She just had
to let everything play out the way it was meant
to.

“I just don’t want you to give up on everything,
because it makes me really sad when you’re
so unhappy all the time. That’s all.” Maybe it
wasn’t the right time for her to be voicing her
own feelings, but she was already feeling oh
so guilty about her earlier outburst, and that
only made it worse when she finally began
to realize that despite what everyone said,
maybe love really couldn’t conquer all. “I
just… I’m sorry you feel like you’re gonna
be trapped in a chair and this life forever.”

Teddy’s   tongue   had   been   poised   and  sharpened
with    her    cutting   words,   but   those   faded   at  her
daughter’s   unconditional    love   and    patience  ——
even her  g r i e f and a n g e r couldn’t be so heartless.
While   her   mind   stopped   her   heart   from   singing
the   truth,  Teddy  could  still  feel  the  pain  emanating
from  her  little  girl  ——  she  could  still  feel the guilt
that  ran  her  blood  cold  with  the  knowledge  that she
had caused it.

Now,  all  Teddy  knew  to   hope   for   was   that   Delia
might  never  forget  her  mother’s  embrace; that she’d
remember  the  way  Teddy  had  taught  her  to  love  in
the  first  place.  God  knew  Teddy  couldn’t  manage  a
single  loving  word  right  then,  what with the bitterness
that had gotten in the way. Every lesson in selflessness,
in abnegation ——Teddy only wished she’d saved them,
in  the  stead  of  the  all the chances she’d let slip to tell
Delia   she  loved  her.   And   perhaps  this  momentary
selfishness  had come between them, but Teddy prayed
that the scars she’d left wouldn’t last.  

“I’ve  already  given  up,”  she  whispered. She hated her
daughter’s sadness, hated that it was only there because
of her choices  ——  and  Teddy  didn’t  know how much
longer she could stand to live with it.